


Ready for Tomorrow

by Duck_Life



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Andi's Friends Co-opting Her Parents, Bisexual Bowie, Coming Out, Gen, Mentors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 12:26:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12887844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: Cyrus has a conversation with Bowie, and they both learn a little about each other.





	Ready for Tomorrow

When Cyrus gets to Andi’s grandparents’ house (and it’s still weird calling them that, even after so many months), she’s still not dressed. They’re headed to Buffy’s game at the opposing middle school, but Cyrus over-prepared showed up too early. 

“She’ll be down any minute now,” Andi’s dad assures him, inviting him inside. “Want some oatmeal raisin cookies? I just took them out of the oven.” 

“Yum,” Cyrus says, sliding into a chair at the counter. “Thanks, uh… Mr. Bowie.” 

Bowie snorts. “You can just call me Bowie you know,” he says. “‘Mr. Bowie’ makes me sound like I starred in ‘Labyrinth.’ Which I definitely didn’t.” 

“Oh. Sorry.” Embarrassed, Cyrus chomps down on a cookie. “This is fantastic,” he says, garbled through a mouthful of oatmeal raisin deliciousness. 

“Yeah?” He looks pleased. “I added a little cinnamon to ’em. Never done that before. It just felt like the universe was yelling at me, ‘Bowie, put cinnamon in these cookies.’ So I did.” 

“Good call, universe.” Cyrus grabs another cookie. “Is there any milk?”

“Almond milk,” Bowie says.

“Even better.” 

Bowie pours them each a glass and slides Cyrus’s across the counter like an old-timey bartender. “So, Mr. Goodman,” he says, pretending to polish the “bar.” “How’s life? Andi says you’ve got a girlfriend.”

Cyrus turns red; he covers by taking a big sip of almond milk. “Uh, not really,” he says finally. “I mean, I sort of did, but now I sort of don’t.” 

“So it goes,” Bowie sighs, nodding like they’ve just shared some kind of bond of getting rejected. Cyrus knows it couldn’t be further from the truth. What went down between Andi’s parents is nothing like his problems with Iris. Bowie  _ proposed _ and got shot down. Cyrus can’t imagine ever even gathering up the courage to pop the question… and definitely not to a girl. “Don’t worry, kid, you’re young. The universe has plenty of girlfriends in store for you.”

Cyrus gulps almond milk to dissolve the lump in his throat. “I… I don’t know about that,” he says, casting his eyes downward. 

Bowie misunderstands. He thinks Cyrus is putting himself down. “Look, I know it may not look it right now, but as you get older you’re going to find a girl who appreciates you for who you are. You just gotta get through all this middle school bullshi— uh, bullcrap.” He smiles sheepishly. “Trust me, once you hit high school, you’re gonna meet a super cool girl who will want to date you.”

“What if I don’t want to date her?” Cyrus isn’t sure why he says it, but he doesn’t get the panicky feeling in his chest that he gets when he contemplates saying this stuff to his parents or to Jonah. Bowie is a cool dude, but he’s far enough removed from Cyrus’s life that Cyrus doesn’t feel the need to stay secretive. He can open up, get some advice— from somebody besides Buffy. 

“Oh. That’s okay, too,” Bowie says, sounding confused, but Cyrus can see the gears turning. “You know… kid… you don’t have to date girls in high school,” he says. “You can date boys. Heck, I dated boys in high school. And after high school.”

“You did?” Cyrus can’t picture Bowie with anyone but Bex. 

“Sure,” Bowie says. “I was bisexual. Uh, I mean, I still am. Yeah.” He laughs and scratches the back of his neck. 

“Just like the real Bowie,” Cyrus marvels. 

“Hey, kid,  _ I’m _ the real Bowie,” Bowie asserts, jerking a thumb toward his chest. “Ziggy Stardust got it all from me.” 

“You sound like Buffy,” Cyrus sighs. “Although now that she’s on season 3 of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ I don’t think she minds the comparison.” 

“She shouldn’t,” Bowie says. “Buffy’s kickass. Summers and Driscoll.” He rolls his eyes. “You let me get off topic. I was coming out to you, kid. Really pouring my heart and soul out here.” 

“Did you ever tell your parents?” 

Bowie takes a sip of almond milk; Cyrus recognizes the move. He’s stalling. “Never had to,” Bowie says finally. “I never dated a guy seriously enough for them to need to know, I guess. I just never saw a reason to tell them.” 

“Does Andi’s mom know?”

Bowie laughs. “Yeah, Bex has known forever,” he says. “She was my wingwoman, back in the day. Before we dated, she would help me pick up guys.” 

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah,” Bowie says. “But as we were hanging out, you know, it became less and less about the people around me and more about the person I was with.” He sighs. Cyrus can tell he’s still stinging from Bex turning him down. “Cyrus… liking boys, dating boys, it’ll get less scary as time goes on. I promise you.” 

“Oh,” Cyrus says, like he thought he was being subtle with the questions. “Well. Alright.” He rotates his glass on the countertop, not really sure where to proceed. “It’s just… it’s kind of… paralyzingly terrifying right now.” 

“Yep,” Bowie says. “Yep, I remember that. Listen, if you ever want to talk about this kind of stuff… feeling different and scared and crushing on guys… you know where to find me.” He gestures to the Macks’ kitchen surrounding them. “I can help you, young padawan. Just think of me as your bisexual Obi-Wan Kenobi.” Cyrus quirks an eyebrow upward. “What? Is Star Wars not cool anymore?”

“Let’s be honest,” Cyrus says. “Was it ever?”

Bowie opens his mouth to defend Star Wars, but then Andi comes traipsing down the stairs. “I’m ready!” she hollers, jumping the last two steps. “Cyrus, you good?”

“Yeah,” Cyrus says, grabbing one more oatmeal raisin cookie for the road. “Your dad was just telling me about his high school days.” 

“Oh, no, I’m sorry,” Andi says. “Hope he didn’t put you to sleep.”

“It was actually really cool,” Cyrus says, waving goodbye to Bowie. His mind spinning with new information, he follows Andi out the door and into the chilly winter air.  


End file.
